SEGA Students Break the Chain of Violence with One Billion Rising’s Day of the Dance

This Valentine’s Day, the SEGA Girls School is standing against gender-based violence through #1BillionRising’s Day of the Dance.

This Valentine’s Day, SEGA students stood up to “break the chain” of gender-based violence! Continuing a Valentine’s Day tradition that SEGA began last year, today SEGA students performed One Billion Rising’s Break the Chain Dance.

One Billion Rising is a global campaign launched on Valentine’s Day 2012 as a call to action. Right now, more than 1 in 3 women and girls will be beaten or raped in her lifetime. With 7 billion people in the world, that means more than 1 billion women and girls will experience this gender-based violence. The One Billion Rising movement aims to change that!

To bring this movement back to SEGA this year, Form 3 students went through a three-day mentorship training. During those three days, the girls learned all about this One Billion Rising movement – and at the end of their training, they learned the Break the Chain Dance. Once the Form 3 girls learned the dance, they proceeded to teach it to the rest of the school. The Form 3 girls worked each day with a different class to teach them the steps of the dance. Once all the girls had learned the dance, they all practiced together.

SEGA faculty member Pauline Rusisye said, “This dance is very meaningful to the girls because most of them have been affected by violence towards women in their lives. Our students have dealt with rape, early marriage, unwanted pregnancies, and beatings in all of their communities. The girls have also witnessed the harsh treatment that their mothers receive, so many of them were profoundly affected by the dance and the One Billion Rising movement.”

Stella, a Form 2 student, told us: “We are dancing so that everyone in the world can know that girls are capable of doing anything.” Another Form 2 student, Maria, said: ““When I dance I feel appreciated and special. It makes me feel like I can do better, and that I can be the best, and I can be anything I want to be.”

This year, mentors from SEGA’s Msichana Kisasa (Modern Girl) Life Skills Outreach Program participated in the Break the Chain dance as well! Nuru, a Form 3 student, who helped teach the dance to the rest of the school and the mentors, told us: “By teaching our fellows the dance we remind them that they are important, and in return our fellows will let other girls know that they also are important.” SEGA students and graduates are already making a difference on this important issue in their communities.

This February 14th, spread the love, dance against violence and break the chain. We invite you to learn the “Break the Chain” dance and/or donate to SEGA so we can continue to empower a new generation of women who are passionate about breaking the chain of gender-related violence. Share your efforts on social media with #1BillionRising, #BreaktheChain, and #DonatefortheDance.